A very happy mail day!

Yesterday was a yucky day. Paid the bills, extreme morning sickness (all day,) cranky little ones. But then the mail came, and my day was transformed!

I received a fabulous package from my amazing partner, Troublet! We're in this swap over on Craftster, and this is what she made for me. . . .

A bottlecap pincushion in my favorite colors and theme! Lovely. . . and much too pretty for pins.


An apron! It's the perfect size and length, and she used one of my favorite fabrics from my favorite designer! Not only did she send this cool apron, but she made me a matching hair bandana -- AND sent me some yardage of this fabric as well!


But my favorite item is this lovely embroidered art piece of Our Lady of Guadalupe. There is so much detail and care put into this design. . . .


I am in awe of her stitching! Check out the metallic stitches! This is not an easy floss to use, and her execution is flawless.


Here's a shot of the entire package. . . .

For more photos, you can visit the gallery here.

Such a day-brightener! I can't wait to finish her package (and show you all what I'm working on.) Thank you, T., for the lovely, thoughtful and perfect package!

Coming up

Some early risers. . . .

I just planted these on Saturday! Now, if only I could remember what was planted in this row! Cabbage, I think. Or maybe canteloupe.

Also coming up next. . . .

I'm so excited -- I'm working on a new tutorial to share with you! It's spring-themed, eco-friendly, and fairly easy! My little Monkeys approved the prototype yesterday, so now I just need to perfect the pattern, and photograph a tutorial. I'm hoping to have it up before the end of the week, so visit again soon!

I'm probably crazy for attempting this.

I very rarely sew clothing. Sure, I've sewn the occasional pair of pajama pants, or a skirt or two, but that's about it. I was traumatized back in high school -- when I attempted to make a pair of UNITS pants, and ended up with MC Hammer pants. Disastrous.

However, I guess I'm going to have step out of my comfort zone. . . .

My sweet Monkey 6 will be receiving her First Communion in May, and she needs a dress. She wants this dress. . . .

She wants View A, which is the one pictured on the little girl. My amazing seamstress sister has used this pattern before, and she says it's relatively easy, and a good one. I hope so!

In this area, cultural norms have little girls wearing extremely embellished white dresses for the occasion -- like mini-wedding gowns. I never liked this tradition; I think it's odd and gaudy. This dress could easily become that way, too, so to tone it down, I'm going to use white, soft cottons. Maybe a white-on-white stripe (similar to the fabric shown) for the underskirt, and just a plain white for the overskirt. Or, I might try to talk her out of the overskirt altogether! Minimal lace. I'll probably make a little jacket for her, too.

Maybe I'm crazy. Wish me luck!

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of The Office. (Office nerd is probably more accurate.) I recently participated in an Office swap over on Craftster, and thoroughly enjoyed crafting for it!

But first, my package from my sweet partner, madmommymia. . . .

Inspired by Booze Cruise. . . and I'll be wearing this badge to my zumba class!


My very own official Schrute Farms apron! (The beet is a pocket.)


A sweet Jim and Pam collage. . . . you can see more photos of this here. Definitely going to be hung in my office!


A reversible banner! We just might have to hold our own Dundies! (Although probably not at Chili's. . . .)


This side cracked me up! My hubby's birthday is coming up soon, and I'm going to surprise him with this. . . . (he doesn't read my blog!)


And here's what I made for her. . . .

My interpretation of the classic stapler-in-jello (pincushion!)

An apron (of course!) inspired by The Injury, one of the funniest episodes, ever. The pocket quotes Michael, "It's the perfect way to start the day!"

. . . with a little piece of embroidered bacon.

The inside of the pocket boasts a warning label. . . .

And finally, a messenger / diaper bag inspired by Product Recall:

The "fact," bear and beet were stencilled using the freezer paper technique. The bear, beet and text at the bottom were all embroidered.

I also made a little coffee sleeve, that had "shun" embroidered on one side, and "unshun" on the other. I'd probably choose "shun" myself, if it happens to be pre-coffee. I forgot to take a photo of this, though. I used this easy pattern in case you'd like to make yourself one, though!

Again, I really enjoyed this swap! Thank you, M., for swapping and organizing! :) Next, I'll keep working on a special custom order, and my Mexican Kitsch Swap!

Dog drama

I'm sorry I've been MIA (again). . . . I had been working on one swap package (which was finally delivered today,) so I'll post photos of the items tomorrow. Other than that, we've been working on such glorious tasks as preparing the garden beds, doing laundry, starting seedlings, and researching chicken coops. And we did have some dog drama.

We adopted Rico a couple of weeks ago from the local Humane Society.

Things started out great, but quickly went very odd, and very bad. He attacked my sweet 3 year-old from behind -- completely unprovoked and very viciously. Before anyone tells me that puppies just play rough, or my son provoked him, or whatever, I know what I saw and it was terrifying and completely out of character for just about any dog. My son has bruises and scrapes from the attack, but is otherwise fine. The dog went back to the shelter the next morning.

However, we didn't leave the shelter empty-handed. . . .

Meet Maybe, our 8 week-old female lab mix. (Mixed with what? Anyone want to guess?) She's more of what I was wanting for our pet in the first place. I'm crossing my fingers that she will be a good fit for our family.

The cat and the pup are still eyeing each other (in my ugly purple kitchen with an ancient stereo that my teens deposited on the floor. . . lovely!) I hope they'll learn to get along while the pup has to be indoors. I really do not want an indoor dog, but I guess she stays for now. :) At least she's reminding me what it's like to be up with a newborn all night.

Speaking of babies. . . .

Thank you all for your kind wishes for us! They mean so much to me. And thank you for your words of encouragement for my daughter -- she loves reading each and every one!